The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of geranium plant, botanically known as Pelargonium zonale, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name `Fisrocky Dark Red`.
`Fisrocky Dark Red` is a product of a planned breeding program which had the objective of creating new geranium varieties having dark-green foliage in combination with red flower color.
`Fisrocky Dark Red` was originated from a hybridization made by the inventor, Angelika Utecht, in a controlled breeding program in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain, in 1993. The female parent was a hybrid seedling, designated no. 1477/2, having bright red, single flowers, dark-green foliage, and weak growth. The female parent was originally derived from crosses between older commercial varieties, `Osna` with `Yours Truly`, and `Gartendirektor Ries` with `Bolero` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,939). The male parent of `Fisrocky Dark Red` was the variety `Fissamba` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,364), which was characterized by bright-red, compact, round inflorescence, medium-green foliage with distinct zonation and relatively compact plant habit.
`Fisrocky Dark Red` was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross by the inventor, Angelika Utecht, in 1994 in a controlled environment in Galder, Gran Canaria, Spain.
The first act of asexual reproduction of `Fisrocky Dark Red` was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in autumn 1994 in a controlled environment in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain by Angelika Utecht. Horticultural examination of plants grown from these cuttings, initiated in May 1995 in Hillscheid, Federal Republic of Germany, and continuing thereafter, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for `Fisrocky Dark Red` are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.